WhyHunger and Hunger Is are proud to support breakfast programs around the U.S.
Children who miss meals regularly, especially breakfast, are more likely to be held back a grade, and receive special education services and mental health counseling than children who do not struggle with food insecurity. Children who eat a healthy breakfast have increased brain development, ability to focus, better attendance and overall academic capacity, according to the Illinois School Breakfast Financial Sustainability Report written by the Greater Chicago Food Depository.
I spoke with Suzanne Lee who works in the Policy and Advocacy Department of the Greater Chicago Food Depository Breakfast Program to learn about how policy, breakfast and social good are helping nourish kids in Chicago. Suzanne explained that a new state law has been passed in Illinois that mandates free After the Bell breakfast for any school that has a seventy percent or more poverty rate. This law will be implemented this coming year to help 78,000 children in Chicago access healthy, free meals to start their day!
To prepare the schools and the families for this major change, the Greater Chicago Food Depository (GCFD) has leveraged a grant from the Hunger Is initiative to host five events throughout Chicago to make sure the whole school system is prepared and the children and families know how this new After the Bell breakfast program will work. They also printed and distributed educational material that further explains the new system.
The GCFD utilizes a dual strategy for promoting healthy breakfast for children; offering community support for legislation on a state and local level, like After the Bell breakfast, that will benefit children and families in need alongside educational events, as well as creating literature and campaigns to explain the benefits of the legislation and encourage participation. All too often the very people who can benefit the most from a piece of legislation like this have not heard enough about it to embrace it enthusiastically and support it.
In the not too distant past food banks and emergency food providers saw their role simply as giving food to hungry people. Fortunately, that has changed and GCFD is a good example of a more holistic approach to fighting hunger and poverty. The support from Hunger Is has helped GCFD and organizations across the country to strengthen this trend and multiply the impact of their strategies to reach many more hungry people, and especially help children access nutritious meals.
